Nag Panchami – Good For Snakes?

Held annually at the end of July, Nag Panchami is an ancient traditional Indian festival originally aimed at worshiping snakes by promoting a deep respect towards them. For generations, people have worshiped snakes as idols in temples and would pray for their wellbeing. However, cultural evolution has led to a complete disregard of this very objective and manifested into a violent act of handling live snakes and force feeding them with milk and eggs. This is unfortunate and leads to great suffering of snakes. Not only is it stressful, it is illegal to capture, display and kill snakes in India under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Save The Snakes strongly urges everyone not to encourage such heinous acts that end up killing many snakes. We would encourage people to learn more about their ecological importance and natural history to dispel many myths surrounding them. Garnering a respect and appreciation for these largely misunderstood creatures is one of our core objectives besides protecting them through scientifically driven conservation programs.